China web users say searches on Google’s Hong Kong site blocked

Web users say that the internet connection is being reset after each search so results cannot be displayed, the Guardian has reported. However, there were suggestions that the problem may not be an intentional block by the Chinese authorities, as it was still possible to use the advanced search function on the Google Hong Kong homepage.

An alternative explanation could be the presence of certain letters in a search parameter representing the abbreviation of blocked radio website Radio Free Asia, which may have triggered internet filters. Google told Reuters that "mobile services are partially blocked from within mainland China," but did not speculate on the cause.

The internet search provider's mobile service was also behaving erratically this week. Whilst users users in Shanghai said that there were no problems, others said that searches produced uneven results.

The news comes a week after Google announced it was closing its mainland search service and would be redirecting Google users to an uncensored Chinese language service hosted in Hong Kong. Google, whilst continuing some business operations in China, said it was not willing to self-censor following a cyber-attack originating from within the country.